Of Chestnuts and Crossroads

A tale about voice through the heart-opening whispers of a chestnut tree that ponders beauty, madness, and other witnessed glimpses of the past.

A New Podplay by Janna GorhamFeaturing Photography by Steve Keanand Original Musical Composition by Donald Quan

ABOUT THE ARTISTSJanna Gorham (Writer)Janna Gorham is a story-teller and visual artist who explores poetic understandings of trauma, madness, and multiplicity. Janna seeks to animate the vastness of memory through traces of language that describe and invoke the embodied experience of fragmentation. She has an M.A. in Critical Disability Studies (York University) and has been studying Sculpture/Installation at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCADU).

Steve Kean (Photographer)Kean is a self-employed photographer with a wide range of clients in the public and private sector. He was inspired by his attendance at an Abilities Arts Festival and encouraged by the artistic director of the organization to pursue what had been an avocation into a primary vocation. His work with the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association of Ontario allows him to serve his community and share his experience as an artist, photographer as well as a person with a disability.

Donald Quan (Composer)Award winning composer Donald Quan was born in Toronto and schooled at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Donald is a multi-instrumentalist, playing piano and viola as well as the instruments in his extensive 500+ MUSIDEUM collection. He has performed and recorded with singer/songwriter Loreena McKennitt for over 15 years, as well as Canadian rock legends Lighthouse.

Especially well known for his work in the area of World Music, his CDs Tear of the Sun (with Ron Korb) and Invocata (recorded at Real World Studios) have garnered acclaim worldwide. Donald has toured China and Japan with collaborators Ron Korb and George Gao, playing music dubbed “New Chinese Jazz”, a blend of jazz improvisation and traditional Chinese melodies. Donald also collaborated with Ron Korb, creating the Toronto 2008 Olympic Bid theme song Expect the World, with performances by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Toronto’s Samba Squad. Donald is currently known for his work promoting artists in his intimate venue MUSIDEUM.

Post navigation

Tangled Art + Disability is boldly redefining how the world experiences art and those who create it. We are a not for profit art + disability organization dedicated to connecting professional and emerging artists, the arts community and a diverse public through creative passion and artistic excellence. Our mandate is to support disability-identified artists, to cultivate disability arts in Canada, and to enhance access to the arts for artists and audiences of all abilities.